The New York Alliance Against Insurance Fraud (NYAAIF), a group supported by insurance companies in New York to educate consumers about the costs of insurance fraud, recently reviewed online reports from the New York State Insurance Department's Frauds Bureau and uncovered a few examples of scams attempted by less-than-stellar criminal masterminds. Here are a few of the most appalling examples.

Ring on the Finger. An insured engagement ring is supposedly lost, and the insurance company is asked to pay more than $28,000 to replace the expensive piece of jewelry. Yet a modest amount of due diligence found that the ring reported lost by the man was still on the finger of the would-be fraudster's fianc?e, who clearly knew nothing about her intended's ill-fated scam.

Sinking a Claim. There's the tale of the leased 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer that sank "like a rock" (to borrow an old Chevy commercial's tag line), to the bottom of Lake Erie. Alas, it had some help doing so because the vehicle was discovered with the keys in the ignition and a rock on the gas pedal. All of the alleged participants in the vehicle's underwater burial were subsequently arrested, including the woman who was leasing the vehicle.